New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie went to the lion’s den of conservatives Thursday and offered red meat, touting the work of Republican governors and blasting Democrats and the news media during remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

Christie, one of several potential 2016 presidential candidates to headline CPAC, urged the activists gathered outside of Washington to clearly define “what we’re for and not what we’re against” as Republicans and commit to doing all they can to elect GOP candidates to Congress and at the state level.

“We don’t get to govern if we don’t win,” Christie said. “Let us come out of here resolved to not only stand for principles but resolved to win elections again.”

Christie won applause for his remarks, his first in the nation’s capital since the scandal over politically motivated lane closures on the George Washington Bridge scandal blew up in January.

He wasn’t invited to CPAC last year because organizers didn’t think he was sufficiently conservative. Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union, which sponsors CPAC, said at the time that Christie had disappointed conservative activists with his push for federal aid to help Superstorm Sandy victims and efforts to expand Medicaid.

In his remarks Thursday, Christie urged the audience to say “what we’re for and not what we’re against” and he sought to dispel what he called the news media’s portrayal of the GOP.

Speaking about the Democratic Party, Christie said: “They’re the party of intolerance, not us.”

Christie, wearing his hat as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, also praised the work of Ohio’s John Kasich, Michigan’s Rick Snyder and Florida’s Rick Scott — who are all up for re-election this year.